Singapore Sweet Tooth

What's a trip to Singapore without a taste of the king of fruit, durian? Admittedly, I really don't like the stuff. It comes in the form of a large spiky oblong fruit, which then has to be hacked open to reveal the flesh inside. Note: this flesh smells like garbage left out in the sun. And it has a peppery after-taste. I am definitely not a fan, but I can now say I have sampled the most infamous fruit of southeast Asia.
Verdict: must try, despite it being terrible. People either love or hate it, there is no middle ground.

An ice cream sandwich at home is simple a brick of ice cream between two cookie-like wafers, usually chocolate flavoured. Here? Find your nearest ice cream uncle and grab a real sandwich with an Asian persuasion, such as my personal favourite of purple yam ice cream between rainbow sweet bread. Yes, bread. As in yesterday we bought a loaf of bread and a bucket of ice cream and made ice cream sandwiches. Life changing!
Verdict: I would have one a day if there was an ice cream uncle on campus.

Right now, Buddhists (and the Chinese community in general) are celebrating the autumn festival. As with all good festivals, this one includes a symbolic food: mooncakes. I'm not sure what significance they carry, and people seem to tell different origin stories, but these little confections are actually not bad. Typically filled with lotus paste and egg yolk, they don't have much flavour and are quite heavy.
Verdict: another "must try" food item, simply for a feeling of full participation in the culture.

Lastly, here is something called ice kachung. No need to say "Gesundheit." It's a little hard to come to conceptualize, so bear with me. First you fill the bottom of a bowl with starch jellies. Don't ask what kind, I have no clue. Next, pile on fresh shaved ice into a monumental heap. Drizzle with flavoured syrups, such as rose. Finally, garnish with corn and red beans. Yes, corn and beans. I speak the truth.
Verdict: worth trying, and quite good as long as you try to ignore the fact that you're eating corn and beans as a dessert.


first photo by ppborla, second photo by me, third photo by ♥ he@rt ♥, fourth photo by CDN Harv

Music Monday: Singin' in the Rain

This feature is in sore need of a combo breaker. Looking back, past Music Mondays go a little like this: female vocalist, female vocalist, female vocalist, and, oh! female vocalist. I get it, I like my ladies singing. But there are some men on my playlist, too!

So this week you're getting a track by Jamie Cullum, a British singer-songwriter of the jazz persuasion. This song is his cover of the classic Singin' in the Rain.

Why this song? 'Cause it's what I've been doing all weekend. As a tropical nation, Singapore gets its fair share of rainstorms. Suffice to say it's been a damp weekend. But the dampness is somewhat welcome, as it not only makes the humidity seem a little more natural (and therefore acceptable), but it also cools the air temperature to a much more reasonable 25 degrees or so. Plus, Singaporeans have devised an expansive network of covered walkways throughout the city and on campus, so you never really have to be under the open sky if you don't want to. And believe me, you never really want to. The aforementioned humidity prevents your clothing from becoming dry, making movement a monumental effort once the dampness has set in.

As such, the sunny days are my favourite ones, though the rain provides a little respite from the heat every week or so. I just run to the nearest covered area and appreciate the rain from a distance, is all.

Rescuing the Milo

I love my Milo. A lot. I've blogged about it before, even. So it makes me sad when the Milo in our dining hall is pathetically sub-par. Luckily, I have come up with a very mathematically and chemically precise way of rectifying this hot drink deficiency:

• 3/4ish cup full of poorly proportioned Milo
• 1/4ish cup full of Vietnamese coffee (known here as kopi-o)
• 1/2ish tbsp of sugar
• 1/2ish tbsp of coffee whitener

Voila, the Milo has been salvaged and made delicious once more. Post-meal beverage time is saved! It's the little things in life, people.

photo by elena's pantry (whose gallery is making me drool)

a Local Weekend

For three days Baybeats rocked the Esplanade, a Southeast Asian indie musical treat. I took in the sounds of groups from across the region, from Singaporean Bear Culture to Filipino Turbo Goth, Indonesian Bangkutaman to Japanese Buddhistson. It was immensely ecclectic, with some acoustic sets, some electronic, some genuine rock, and some heavier (but not quite metal) bands. Suffice to say, I had an awesome time.

Also at the Esplanade (a place I am quickly coming to love and will likely frequently visit) were a series of art exhibitions. The one pictured is titled In the air, and is composed of numerous figures knit out of steel wire and suspended from the ceiling. Another, called Circus of Life, depicted local stories from the elderly through marionettes. Another was a series of makeshift walls with work by various graffiti artists, including a tribute wall to Amy Winehouse.

I finished up the weekend at the Night Safari, a sort of guided zoo tour that takes place at night. Obviously. Before we embarked on our adventures through the trails, though, we watched a performance by fire blowers in stylized traditional tribal costume. As wicked cool as that was to see, it was nothing compared to the incarnate glory of the bear cat. I want one. They smell like popcorn, though I'm not quite sure I understand why. Still, popcorn scented bear cat! Do want!

In the vein of wanting things, I've got one such item crossed off my list: a Formula One Singapore Grand Prix ticket. That's right, I finally forked out the big bucks for a ticket to the race (the real race, not the time trials or any of that fluff). I don't get a spot in the grandstands, but I'll have access to almost all the performances, including the finale Linkin Park concert. Night time race in Marina Bay? Worth every penny!



first and second photos by me, third photo by See this World through Lenses, fourth photo by Roro Fernandez. more photos on Flickr

Music Monday: a New Old Favourite

So I spent two days this weekend at Baybeats, a Southeast Asian indie music festival here in Singapore. That said, this post won't be at all about that! You'll have to wait read this more recent post for those details.

Instead I'm offering up another one of my favourite female vocalists, Florence Welsh, and another cover, You've Got the Love.

While it isn't my favourite song off her album, I still like it. I like her solo version, I like her live duet with Dizzee Rascal more, and I adore her collaboration with the xx on this version of the song.

Just like Marina last week it was the easy pace that hooked me, but the percussion beat and harp are what keep me coming back. That, and the almost chilling duet between Florence and... well, whoever that guy is. I assume he's a member of the xx? I love me some Florence + the Machine, although now I should look into what the xx have to offer. Anyhow, check out the link above and give the song a listen, I promise it's a good'un!

a Photoblog: Baybeats @ Esplanade

all photos by me, more on Flickr

Mini Merlion, Mini Update

• spending my mid-week day off at the beach feels wrong somehow
• I don't think my skin has ever been this dark before
• today when I said I was from BC a Singaporean replied, "Oh, as in BC bud?"
• in discovering a new (and cheaper!) fruit juice kiosk I now find myself wondering what soursop is, besides a miracle fruit of epic deliciousness
• I'm the vice-captain of my faculty's volleyball team, purely because I've played in a competitive league before
• whoever decided to make oxfords and dress pants out of a moisture wicking fabric needs to be canonized, pronto
• breakfast today consisted of chococake and hot soya milk, which I approve of greatly
• Southeast Asian alternative music festival this weekend, whatever that means
• being sick in this humidity is absolutely terrible

photo by me

Sometimes I Wonder

I'm now into my second week of school at NUS and am enjoying myself immensely. All of my classes look promising, and the set-up isn't too much different from what I'm accustomed to back home at UBCO. That, and I'm doing a course in Southeast Asian cultural and political geography, as well as a course in Japanese mass media. I'm in Asia, after all. Might as well do the relevant courses I can't get at home!

All that said, though, I'm not without a little homesickness. I mean, I love the food, the people, the climate, the city, the everything, really. But I want to share all that with my friends from back home, y'know? It's pretty much daily where I find myself thinking, "Hey, so-and-so would love this!" Except that so-and-so is not here, and not exactly in a position to come visit anyway. What I would give to have those people here with me now!

But that's not what I've been wondering. I'm going through some high school nostalgia right now, but not for the school or for the experience. I'm starting to miss some of the people I was friends with. Don't get me wrong, some of the people in my life right now are the best friends I could ask for, and am I so glad to have met them. But I can't help but think about how things would be different if I were to go back as I am right now. What would my life had been life if I was who I am now, but then?

What if I were to go back as I am now, with my new experiences and friendships? How would things be different? Would I be better able to retain those past friendships? Would I have different friendships entirely? I've never been one to have a vast net of people around me, I prefer a smaller group of more close friends. I think I'm still that way, although my new experiences in Singapore are saying otherwise. I guess I'm changing again, eh? 


first and fourth photos by me, second photo by mikebaird, third photo by mac.rj

Music Monday: Actually, her Name's Marina

It's a little sad to say, but I've loved Marina & the Diamonds ever since first hearing the song Hollywood (Fenec Soler Remix) on the Gap soundtrack at work. Soon after I got a hold of the album two other tracks made it onto the store soundtrack, causing a slight overdose on Marina that summer.

A year later I'm still just as fond of the group, particularly the titular singer's voice, and delighted that Last.fm recommended this track to me as a free download. I had never heard it before a few days ago, but I fell into that same immediate adoration as with Hollywood.

Y'see, I really like some of 3OH!3's work as well, particularly this song. The way that Marina & the Diamonds covers it though is so incredibly different, taking the tempo down and stripping the electronic sounds away for an acoustic jam session instead.

So take a listen, and if you like it hop over to Last.fm for the download link while they're still offering it.

a Photoblog: Derelict

National Day in Singapore, Video

There's only so much I can convey with words. Here's a video of the finale, which i did not see from my vantage point across the bay. Apparently the fireworks were actually in sync with the sing along! So watch the video below and pretend you're in the Lion City.

video by 154media

National Day in Singapore

I was lucky enough to be in Singapore as the country celebrated 46 years of independence. It's still quite a young country, and that youthful enthusiasm showed on August 9th.
I started the day off watching the culmination of a week-long NUS "Rag and Flag" event, which saw each faculty put together floats and performances. Now, when I say performance, I mean they had choreographed dances and show gymnastics. People were being thrown into the air and flipping. Human pyramids were being assembled. Everyone seems to know hip-hop.

When the Rag and Flag was finished, the National Day Parade began, and was streamed live to our screen across the bay. It started with an extremely corny, scripted demonstration of Singapore's military, and slowly became a military parade, and then, well, I'm not sure what it became next.
"Parade" might be the wrong word to describe the events that happened that night. The only thing I can compare it to is the opening ceremonies of any Olympic games. They had actors and actresses, sing alongs, performers, costumes, and a story line with set acts!

Of course, at the finish of the parade/performance/whatever there was a massive fireworks display and light show. It was like nothing I have ever seen before, as the fireworks are set off in the bay among all the towering glass buildings as well as from the tops of the buildings themselves. Factor in the reflection from the water and the glass and you've got quite the rad display.
All in all, a very different form of celebration than I partook in for Canada Day.

first and third photos by Randy-Tan, second photo by Shutter wide shut

my Favourite Things, Food in Singapore Edition

Y'know how lemonade is the refreshing drink of choice in the summer? Here, that honour goes to lime juice. I sampled it my very first day here, and have been in love ever since. For a while I was going on one a day. Now I've branched out into all the different juices you can get, most all of which are fresh squeezed and therefore rad.

I'm in love with Indian food. The Indians tease me about having the Indian dinner every single night, but what can I say? It's the most delicious thing on the menu. If I just want a quick snack, though, roti prata is my usual go to. It's not your typical fried roti, and I always take my stuffed with eggs. Then there's the side of curry sauce to dip in, which I end up eating with a spoon when I've inhaled all the bread. Mmm.

This may have originally been a favourite of mine from living in Victoria, but my love for hot pot bibimbop extends to Singapore, too! Korean food is widely available in Singapore, and even in the heat and humidity I don't mind sweating a little more over a hot plate and a side of kimchi. 

Every night I have at least one cup of hot Milo, a drink that is sort of  like hocho but definitely not. During the day I'll also drink it cold over ice, often ordering it as a Milo dinosaur. And just what is this Milo dinosaur, I hear you ask? Well, it's a regular glass of iced Milo with an extra scoop of the powdered mix on top. It be delicious.

Bread Talk is a chain of bakeries, and every time I walk in I am completely overwhelmed. It's all self service, so at the entrance you pick up a tray and tongs. After wandering around the store trying not to spill drool on the baked goods you take you heavy laden tray to the cashier and pay for you spoils. I try to limit myself to four purchases at a time, two savoury and two sweet. Faves include the chocolate cream cheese bun, mushroom hot dog bun, and garlic chicken sausage pizza.

The majority of my vegetable intake comes from lunches at stalls that sell laksa yong tau foo, which is a type of soup. First, you pick up a bowl and fill it with whatever vegetables, cooked eggs, tofu, and meat products you wish, and then hand it over to the cashier. Your choices are quickly boiled and then placed back in the bowl with your choice of broth. I always have laksa, which is a spicy coconut curry much like Thai red curry. I may or may not grab some of that right now, as the photo is of one of the couple stalls at NUS.

Lime juice photo by Charles Haynes, roti prata photo by jeanyim, bibimbop photo by jbcurio, Milo photo by CLF, Bread Talk photo by midthought, laksa yong tau foo photo by 22n.

Indonesian Adventures

Over the weekend I went on a brief trip to the island of Batam in Indonesia, just a quick half hour or so speed ferry ride from Singapore.

That is, quick if we had gone directly to Batam. Y'see, we booked our accommodations on Batam, but we booked our ferry to Bintan, the more popular island next door. Long story short, we had another half hour ferry ride and about an hour and a half of taxis ahead of us before arriving at our final destination. It was the long way around, but... "Making memories!" and all that.

Batam was not emblematic of the Indonesia we expected. It is known for shipbuilding and welding. Not beaches, not resorts, not tourism. We were there entirely by accident. But we made the best of it. Although we could see the Marina Bay Sands Resort Casino in Singapore from our window, a few of us stayed in Batam and resisted heading home early.

So just what did we get up to, then?

The first day comprised of massages (I will not go into details, suffice to say), exploring the nearly abandoned mall close to us, and eating copious amounts of baked goods. And vodka from the duty free. Day two saw a bit more adventure, a we went to a much busier mall (read: four storey bazaar) and dinner on Food Street. This was followed by $1 crepes with ice cream and bananas, a bit of shopping, and then more duty free vodka, cassava chips, and finally karaoke. Now I'm home and ready to celebrate National Day before heading to class on Thursday. Majulah Singapura!

all photos by me, more on Flickr

Music Monday: 'til the Sun Goes Down

Sia has been a favourite of mine for a while now. She and her music are amazingly eclectic, and there is so much variation within her albums. There are dance hall anthems, power ballads, stripped down piano chords, and so much more.

This particular song off her most recent album, We are Born, was instantly one of those tracks I played time and time again. It's upbeat, catchy, and the lyrics are spot on. To me it feels like a summer song.

And here I am, living in the middle of a tropical summer. I've got a Summer Soundtrack 2011 playlist on my iPod and HTC, and it features quite a few songs from Sia. It got a lot of play time on all the ferries and taxis I took over the weekend in Indonesia.

Here's a link to Bring Night, via HypeMachine. If you haven't noticed, I've got a HypeM widget off to the left that updates with my latest "loved" tracks. Take a look through, my tastes are all over the board and you might find something you like.

the Mall City

I have been told that Singapore is not a country, but a hotel. You are very welcome to come and stay for a while, and so long as you abide by the rules you will have a good time. Currently, I'm thinking that Singapore is actually a mall. At least most of it is.

Malls are everywhere in Singapore, and they always seems to be busy. I spent part of my day at two three different malls: Clementi Mall, Harbour Front Centre, and VivoCity. That two is scratched out because I never actually left VivoCity, I was just suddenly in another mall. That's common here, wandering down a hallway only to be greeted by a welcome sign for the mall next door. I guess Singaporeans don't like walking around outside too much.

Anyway, VivoCity and Clementi. The later is the most convenient MRT stop from uTown (though technically not the closest), so I'm there quite a bit. The former is pictured in this post, rather the rooftop park is. Yes, a park on top of the mall. Singapore takes urban green space seriously (hence I'm here doing urban geography).

It's not just a collection of planters and a few benches around a playground made from recycled tires, either. It's a full on trees and shrubs on manicured islands in a wading pool that spans the whole rooftop. Trees. On the roof. I didn't even know that was a viable option, but apparently they do that here.

The mall itself is huge, something like 6 storeys including both basements. What's strange about the malls in Singapore, though, is that there is no one food court. There are companies that run "food courts," where every single stall is owned and operated by said company, but nothing like what we have in Canada or the States. Instead, restaurants and food vendors are scattered throughout, tucked between your usual assortment of retail stores. I'm not sure which I like better, our system or Singapore's.

I'll have plenty of time to test the Singaporean way of shopping, though. I'm living in this mall for four months!

Oh, and yes, that is a snowman statue. A little thinner than what I'm accustomed to seeing, but I guess they're compensating for heat a little. Besides shaved ice (with corn!?), that's the closest Singapore gets to snow.

photos by me, more on Flickr

Zouk

Last night I went out clubbing again, and it has been proved yet again that Singapore really knows how to put on a party! I hit a local icon called Zouk, which celebrated 19 years of Mambo Jambo last night with no cover. What's Mambo Jambo, you ask? I'm not sure either, but the Zouk website describes it like this: "the embodiment of uninhibited flamboyance on the dance floor." Sure, what they said.

The club scene there was rad, as they had a few different dance halls within the one venue. I spent time at both the main Zouk hall and another called Velvet Underground. At Zouk, Mambo Jambo included hits from the 80s and 90s with a few more recent tracks included. My favourite, though, was Velvet, as the music they played closely resembled my playlist on the Hype Machine. Mash-ups, remixes, all with thundering base and more than one dubstep interlude.

Aside from the difference in music, Zouk had an, erm, strange phenomenon: choreographed hand movements. Yes. Not only did every Singaporean there know intricate hand motions to each and every song played - from Like a Prayer to Chumbawumba - but there were official hand dancers on raised platforms wearing white gloves and glowing rings to lead us uninformed people in the chaos. This country just becomes more interesting daily.

Mambo Jambo logo by Zouk, club photo from Time Out, dance photo from @llie's @ttic

Music Monday: Blue Skys

Technically it's still Monday back home in British Columbia, so this post is right on time.

Being in Singapore feels like a vacation. I feel like I live in a hotel sometimes, and every day I'm out exploring and every night I'm up to something in town. This ain't real life.

So it would make sense that I need a bit of a summer soundtrack, right? Besides all the mash-ups, remixes, and generally "dance hall" music that I've been listening to lately, there are a few true summer songs. One of these is an old favourite, Mr Blue Sky.

You may remember it as an ELO tune, but it has been covered multiple times since the original release (some more likeable than others). My particular favourite, above even the ELO version, is sung by the Delgados. You can take a listen to it here.